on August 2, 2000
Plutarch tends to be moralistic and tangential. Thucydides slows down his narrative with an abundance of detail and set speeches. If you want a good, straightforward "rumpty tumpty" presentation of exciting and dramatic historical events, then Diodorus is your man. He doesn't shy away either from describing violence and brutality when necessary. Although Plutarch's characterization and Thucydides's clarity are beyond compare, Diodorus's history can compete because its sweep is so much grander.
This volume from the Loeb Classical Library, Greek on one page, English on the other, covers the period 431 BC to 405 BC. This, of course, is the period of the Pelopennesian War and so, in a sense, Diodorus's history is clashing head-to-head with that of Thucydides. In the event it stands up quite well. Although Thucydides presents a much better account of events in Greece, Diodorus edges him in his account of the Athenian expedition against Syracuse. He also finishes the war whereas the history of Thucydides breaks off in the year 411.
The most important event of the so-called Pelopennesian War happened very far from the Pelopennese. This was the Athenian attempt to capture Syracuse, which, although well planned and supported, ended in disaster. After initial victories, the Athenians just failed to wall off the city, then a run of bad luck saw them reduced to fighting for their survival until another fleet and army arrived to reinforce them. This sudden advantage, however, was thrown away in a single night by a confused attack in the dark on the heights above the city. After this, still confident in the strength of their 'invincible armada,' the Athenians saw even this, their last hope, whittled away in a series of naval battles. When there was still hope of escaping with their remaining ships, their superstitious commander, Nicias, delayed the attempt because of an eclipse of the Moon. This allowed the Syracusans to finally trap and destroy their would-be conquerors.
Following these exciting events, the drama of the book is maintained by Athen's attempt to survive the onslaught of its enemies. For a while the brilliant political and military talents of Alcibiades succeed in reviving Athenian power, but following his undeserved exile, the Athenian fleet is decisively defeated and Athens is helpless.
Diodorus rounds off events in Sicily by describing Carthage's response to the Syracusan victory - a massive invasion of Western Sicily - and the advantage taken of these events by the Syracusan general Dionysius, who used this emergency to seize power and set up his famous dictatorship.
As Always with Loeb editions, each page is dated in the side margin so that the chronology of events is always clear. Also, this volume comes with two maps showing the area around Syracuse in detail.